it's the journey, not the destination

I'm on the hunt. I bought three more frames from Ikea a few weeks ago that match the few I bought in New Orleans. But, alas, I have nothing to fill them. I've already done the real cheap duct tape art approach. This time I want color. And pattern. And texture. And personality. But not too much. Because I'm afraid of all of that and in the end always stick to oh so colorful beige whenever I buy anything - couch, chairs, etc. I must break out. I'm too drawn to color to keep avoiding it. So John and I took the baby on a little jaunt. (Funny, I constantly refer to the baby as 'the baby' and my mom constantly reminds me that the baby has a name. Yes, and until we have another kid, her name is baby.) 

First stop was the Paper Source on the Plaza. What about buying a sheet of their handmade paper to frame?

I'm all about framing wallpaper or in this case, just plain ole paper. But I wanted it to have more going on then these did. I wanted more a of non-pattern kind of pattern. You feel me? Like rather than swirls on wrapping paper, a big asymmetrical bird so it doesn't just scream, "I'm a piece of paper in a frame because my owner is too cheap to buy real art!" But I couldn't find any, so we were back to square one.

Luckily, as the week rolled out, we landed on the first Friday of the month in the Crossroads.

Next up was a little downtown jaunt with the baby. It was a beautiful night in Kansas City. As we headed toward the hub of the evening to look for art, we were yanked inside a studio by a couple of ballerinas. It was a free little circus-like show for families. Annie was enthralled. 

I got asked on stage to verify that this acrobat is NOT very strong. Huh? It was weird. I felt awkward. 

But it's too cool that there are artists in KC willing to put on free shows like this and make our city appealing. Speaking of artists, Brady at Hammerpress is also too cool. Here are two posters he did that we considered buying for my frames to put in Annie's nursery.

But cue my indecisiveness and we left we neither nor. We did measure the matting of the frames at home and went back a few days later, but still couldn't pull the trigger. The poster sizes just didn't fly with the frames. 

So, First Fridays was a hit. Art buying was a bust. Except I did run into the guy who painted this piece that hangs in Annie's nursery. Apparently I had had one too many glasses of wine the night I bought it and didn't notice how the paint had run from what looked like drops of water. It's not too offensive so I'd still hung it all these years. But, the guy was all too happy to have me bring it back four years after the fact and he'd try to restore it. 

Annie's New Orleans nursery

Hopefully, he hadn't had one too many glasses when he told me that. Plan on calling him this week and we'll see if he pulls through...